


18 "Here, drink this. You'll feel better"

by allousive



Series: One Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You' [19]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror James Sirius Potter, Fluff, Healer Teddy Lupin, Love, M/M, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23717428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allousive/pseuds/allousive
Summary: James get injured at work.
Relationships: Teddy Lupin/James Sirius Potter
Series: One Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You' [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1406428
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	18 "Here, drink this. You'll feel better"

**Author's Note:**

> hope you're well, enjoy! xx

* * *

**18 “Here, drink this. You’ll feel better”**

James’ head hurt. He’d never been able to feel the blood flowing around his head until now, focusing on the fact that he could practically feel his heartbeat behind his eyelids. His whole skull was throbbing, made even worse when he tried to open his eyes.

All he saw for the first few seconds was blinding white light, making his vision fuzzy, as though he’d just stared directly into the sun. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust, and once they had, he lifted his head and looked around the room. The first thing that struck him was the sterility of it, everything around him white and looking as though it had been thoroughly scrubbed down. That was when he noticed the machines behind him to the right and looked down to see a hospital bracelet tied around his wrist. After that, he quickly realised he was in a patient’s room in St Mungos.

His memory was unclear on how he’d ended up there, he could only recall back to that morning when he’d kissed Teddy goodbye before leaving for work. There must’ve been some kind of call out, or maybe he was put on a case and ended up getting hurt enough to be admitted to a room. Then about a thousand questions entered James’ mind, what had happened? Who was he with? Did his parents know? Did Teddy know?

The final question was answered almost immediately, the door to the room swung open and Teddy walked in muttering something to himself, dressed in his healer’s robes, looking down at his hovering clipboard, a pencil scribbling out whatever Teddy was saying. Clearly, he hadn’t expected James to be awake, because he was paying absolutely no attention to the man in the bed. It wasn’t until James very obnoxiously cleared his throat that Teddy looked up from the clipboard.

“Oh! You’re awake, hang on.” Teddy exclaimed, before turning and leaving the room.

If James didn’t know Teddy so well, he wouldn’t have noticed the way relief seemed to wash over his face at the sight of James being awake. He was disappointed that Teddy had left so suddenly, James hadn’t even had the chance to say anything. Although, he didn’t need to be disappointed for long because it was only minutes before Teddy was returning to the room again, this time with James’ parents and another healer in tow.

Instantly Harry was at James’ bedside, a hand on his forehead as he peered down at his eldest son, “You’re 26 Jamie, you’re not meant to be getting yourself hurt anymore!”

Although his tone was jokey, James could sense the worry in his dad’s voice, so he tried his best to smile at him, but it sort of hurt his head. He tried to shuffle up the bed so he could sit up, but moving on his own made the throbbing worse. Harry seemed to sense his pain and moved some of the cushions from behind his head, forming a small wall before helping to prop his son up so he could lean more comfortably against the pillows.

“I’m alright dad.” Were the first words he spoke, his voice croaky as though he hadn’t used it in weeks, a rare occurrence for James who was generally always talking.

Teddy, who up until this point had been talking quietly with the other healer, lifted his wand and in his free hand appeared a small white cup.

He made his way over to James’ bedside and handed him the cup, “ _Here, drink this. You’ll feel better_.”

James took the cup and looked into it, he’d been expecting water so the bubbling purple liquid took him by surprise, “What is it?”

The other healer, who James didn’t know the name of, answered, “It’s a soothing potion, it’ll help your throat and hopefully calm down some of the throbbing you’re probably feeling.”

James grunted, something about the other healer’s bedside manner made him feel cold inside. He looked to Teddy, hoping for some kind of sympathy from his boyfriend, but the man was back to talking, so James sighed and took a sip. It did actually help, so he drank the whole thing down in one, his head already beginning to hurt less.

Once he’d finished, he turned and handed the empty cup to his mum, who had pulled up a chair on his left to sit next to Harry. Ginny shook her head at him, but took the cup, James smiling cheekily. He turned back to look in Teddy’s direction, desperately wanting to talk to the man. James watched as the other healer took hold of the clipboard, signed it, then handed it back to Teddy.

“Thank you, Myers.” Teddy said as the other healer left the room, James silently relieved.

He was still watching Teddy, who was now looking at the machines behind James, waving his wand over them and muttering under his breath. It had been years since James had asked Teddy to explain the machines and all they did to him, sometimes there were things in life you just didn’t understand.

“What happened?” James asked, looking up at Teddy who had looked down at him when he’d begun to talk.

“What do you remember?” Teddy addressed him, moving away from the machines and coming to stand on the right of James’ bed.

“You.” James told him, because that was all he could remember.

Teddy looked slightly confused, “Me?”

“Yeah, I remember saying bye to you this morning, that’s it.”

“You remember nothing from work?” Harry’s voice caused James to turn his head back to the left to look at his parents once more.

James shook his head, relieved that the throbbing had ceased, “No, nothing at all. I don’t even remember going in.”

From the look on his dad’s face, James assumed that wasn’t a good thing.

“Is that normal?” Ginny asked, looking directly at Teddy.

James turned back to look at his boyfriend.

“It can be, but it doesn’t concern me, or Myers, there’s no sign of any damage to your brain Jay. You’re probably in shock and they’ll come back to you in a few hours, you’ll be in overnight anyway so we’ll keep monitoring you.” Teddy explained, a hand coming down to rest on James’ shoulder.

Ginny and Harry both sighed, audibly relieved. James still wasn’t entirely registering everything going on, that purple potion making him feel like his brain had been wrapped in cotton. At this particular moment in time James wasn’t concerned about what happened to him, he’d find out at some point he was sure, he mostly just wanted Teddy to get into the hospital bed with him so he could have a cuddle.

James looked up at Teddy, narrowing his eyes as he thought back on his memory from that morning, Teddy still in his pyjamas, sat on the sofa and wrapped in a blanket when James said goodbye.

“Hey,” James said, reaching out for Teddy’s hand to get his attention, “you weren’t meant to be working today.”

James looked over to his parents, who weren’t hiding their curiosity, then back to Teddy who looked like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t, but was trying to cover it.

“They called me in.” He said, but without any further explanation.

So, as James did, he pushed the matter, “Why?”

“They were understaffed.”

“But how come they put you with me? Surely you’d be too close to the matter?” If James had any sense he’d stop where he was, but he’d just suffered a head injury so he’d blame it on that.

Teddy looked like he was in pain and as though he didn’t want to answer that question, “I’m not listed as your emergency contact, so there are no rules to say I can’t treat you.”

James narrowed his eyes and looked up at his boyfriend, Teddy wasn’t making eye contact with him and that made him suspicious, he knew Teddy well enough to know there was way more to it than he was letting on. He opened his mouth to say something else but was stopped by his dad saying his name.

Turning to his parents, he saw them stood up, both looking like they didn’t want to be involved in whatever was going on between James and Teddy.

“We’re going to go and grab something to eat and let your brother and sister know how you are, send a patronus if you need anything.” Ginny explained before moving to kiss her son on the forehead.

Harry did the same, then James watched as they both hurried out of the room. As soon as they’d left, James turned back to Teddy who was standing in the same position, staring at the wall.

“Healers aren’t allowed to work with family members, everyone knows that, same as I wouldn’t be allowed to work a case if it involved anyone I was close to.” James said, his head was feeling cleared now that he’d had time to adjust to the potion.

“Well, as I said, they were understaffed, so they didn’t have much choice.” Teddy said and James knew he was lying, saw the way his eyebrow twitched just slightly like it always did when he wasn’t telling the truth.

“What did you do Ted?”

“Why do you think I did anything?” He finally turned to look at James.

“Well, I was sure I’d made you my emergency contact, I think I did it about 4 years ago, so I don’t know why your name wasn’t listed,” James narrowed his eyes, trying to figure everything out, before a thought hit him, “unless, you changed it.”

Teddy at least had the decency to look sheepish, moving James’ arm gently to he could sit on the edge of the bed. He sighed and put his head in his hands, rubbing his face before looking back up at James, eyes shiny like he was fighting back tears.

“Yeah, alright, I changed it.” He admitted, looking slightly defeated.

James blinked a few times, he’d only really thought it, not actually believed it, and now Teddy had admitted it, he couldn’t understand why, so he asked, “Why?”

“Because, if I’m your emergency contact, it’s legally binding that I can’t treat you. Whereas if I’m just a relative or whatever, then I’m at least legally allowed. After that I just have to twist a few arms and assert my position and normally I can get passed technicalities, not that I ever do, but the point is that I can.” Teddy explained, looking guilty at the fact he was admitting he had somewhat abused the power that he had as an established healer.

“Why though?” James still didn’t understand why Teddy had gone to all that effort, “It’s not like they wouldn’t have let you in to see me.”

“It’s not that, it’s just, I needed to be the one to help you. Sure, everyone is qualified and they’re all good at their jobs, I don’t doubt that. But,” Teddy stopped halfway through as his voice broke, James reached out for his hand and squeezed it before Teddy continued, “but what if they missed something? What if I let someone else come in and tend to you, my boyfriend, and they don’t see something that could be crucial? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you, so I had to do everything in my power to make sure I was the one who saw to you. Because at least then I could guarantee that every single thing was checked, even things that might not have needed checking, at least I could check them if I wanted to. You mean the world to me, you are my world, so I can’t lose you.”

The tears that were welling in Teddy’s eyes had begun to fall, making tracks down his cheeks. James moved closer to Teddy, leaning over to wipe away the tears with his thumb, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips.

“You’re not gonna lose me babe, I’m James Potter, it’s going to take more than a knock to the head.” James smiled, trying to lighten the mood and make Teddy laugh.

It worked slightly, Teddy wiping his eyes with the back of his free hand and chuckling softly.

“Yeah good thing you’re such a tough nut.”

James smiled, “Exactly. You shouldn’t worry about me being hurt, I’m an Auror, it’s unfortunately in the job description.”

“Yeah,” Teddy said matter-of-factly, “and you know I hate your job.”

James laughed at Teddy’s deadpan tone, oh how he knew how much Teddy hated the prospect of being an Auror. In fact, he’d been against the entire role ever since he was about 15 and had constantly told Harry he should get a new job. He’d nearly lost his mind when James, aged 17, had told everyone he was enrolling in the training programme.

The two were looking intently at one another, James smiling softly as he said, “You know I love you Ted.”

Teddy nodded, “I love you more.”

* * *


End file.
